Dead Rising: Endgame

Zombies in the morning. Zombies in the evening. Zombies at supper time. Everywhere you look, there's a zombie movie, tv show, or video game, trying to claw its way to your brain. One of the more successful zombie franchises comes in the form of a video game called 'Dead Rising', which happens to be on its fourth installment right now. The success of this video game has garnered a big following, which has recently crossed into feature films, this 'Dead Rising: Endgame' being the second motion picture. What sets this zombie product aside from all the rest?

In the video games, the gameplay is over-the-top, silliness where you can fight hordes of zombies in different locations, such as malls, while taking two weapons and combining them together to fight the undead. For example, you can take a chainsaw and attach it to a lawnmower and have some good old fashioned fun. Some of this crosses over into the films, but with this sequel 'Endgame', the filmmakers wanted to take themselves seriously, which is just so unfortunate, because the film has so many plot holes, you can't help but laugh all the way through it.

The first film was called 'Dead Rising: Watchtower', which had a bit of fun to it, however with 'Endgame', it starts out serious and never wants to come out and play. That's not to say there isn't some fun to be had here with zombie deaths and fun weapon combinations, but the attitude is just all wrong. Once again, journalist Chase Carter (Jesse Metcalfe) will be in the zombie horde zone in the big city, as he tries to rescue his producer and convince his news team that the big army general (Dennis Haysbert) has sinister plans for the surviving civilians. So Chase and a group of people head out with weapons to fight the undead in massive quantities.

Billy Zane joins the cast this time as a a scientist who is supposed to find a cure, but would rather conduct sadistic experiments on people and zombies. There is nothing better than a maniacal Billy Zane. Plot holes show up as much as zombies try to tear people apart, which is strange, because this sequel wants to be taken seriously. There are some gory scenes throughout, but a lot of the blood is CGI, which is unfortunate. The smallest of practical effects go a long way these days and dealing with zombie bites and blood, the more the merrier. The film meanders in and out of terrible subplots, but when the action picks up and the zombie hordes swarm, you'll feel right at home in your cozy zombie corner, even if this film tries to take itself too seriously. 

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'Dead Rising: Endgame' comes with a 25GB Blu-ray Disc from Sony Pictures and is Region A Locked. There is no insert, however there is a sheet for some zombie wound press on tattoos, which is cool. The disc is housed in a hard, blue plastic case with a cardboard sleeve.

'Dead Rising: Endgame' comes with a 1080p HD transfer and is presented in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. This picture was shot digitally and does not have a filmic look to it. There isn't a lot of depth to it and looks flat most of the time, due to the mostly glossy look. That being said, detail is fairly sharp and vivid throughout, showcasing good closeups on the actor's faces with wrinkles, individual hairs and gory wounds. The practical effects of the zombie makeup look great as well, with every wound and bite mark showing all of those nasty guts and intestines nicely.

There are some heavier CGI shots throughout, which tend to go soft on occasion though. Colors don't particularly pop off scree, due to the bleak and vague color spectrum of the film, but the red blood does shine above the rest, which is really all you need here. It's as if the picture is decaying itself, much like the zombies. Black levels are mostly deep and inky and the skin tones are natural. There were no major issues with any compression problems to note, making this video presentation pretty decent.

This release comes with a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 and does the job well enough for the zombie action picture this is. This won't hold a candle to the bigger budget pieces we've seen before, but again, there's enough to like here in the soundscape. Sound effects are for the most part, loud and robust, with gunshots that pack a decent punch, nice explosions that bring the bass, and some heavy helicopter sounds that fly overhead.

Ambient noises of people screaming and zombie growls fill out the rear speakers from time to time as well. The music adds to the suspense of the film, but is fairly forgettable.The dialogue is mostly clear and easy to follow, however there are some moments when the overpowering sound effects muffle the dialogue. The low end brings the bass, which never crosses into rocky territory. Lastly, there are no pops, cracks, hiss, or shrills here, leaving this audio presentation with solid marks.

Bringing Zombies to Life (HD, 1 Min.) - A very short montage of the visual makeup effects being applied. 

From Game to Screen (HD, 3 Mins.) - Some interviews with cast and crew of how the film coincides with the video game, scare tactics, and touching on the previous film.

Making the Weapons (HD, 2 Mins.) - A fun, yet brief look at some of the weapon combinations used to kill zombies, and which ones were real.

Who Is? (HD, 5 Mins.) - The four main characters are covered in four different segments with cast interviews and scenes from the film.

'Dead Rising: Endgame' isn't the best zombie film out there. It's not even a good movie, but it does have some great zombie gore, kills, and solid gory entertainment. Billy Zane comes to life here and the weapon combinations are fun, however, the film takes it self too seriously to have a ton of fun with. The video and audio presentations are decent enough and get the job done and the extras a very short and don't add a ton of information to the making of the movie. If you're a fan of zombie films, give this a rent.